Enseñando la gestión del riesgo de desastres: lecciones de Rotman School of Management

This article describes how disaster risk management topics are taught at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and thus highlights opportunities for developing similar course modules on disaster risk management at other institutions. An undergraduate and MBA elective course, titled Catastrophic Failure in Organizations, contains four modules that are directly relevant to disaster risk management. The first module focuses on the need to move from risk indifference to risk sensitivity. The second module considers the importance of business continuity and crisis management plans and explores their common shortcomings. The third module uses a case study to examine the topic of prospective risk management. The fourth module focuses on the vulnerability of supply chains and other complex systems to disaster risk. The article describes the details of implementing these modules and discusses opportunities for further integration of disaster risk management topics in other parts of the curriculumEste artículo describe cómo se enseñan los temas de la gestión del riesgo de desastres en la escuela de administración, Rotman School of Management, de University of Toronto y, de esta manera, resalta las oportunidades para desarrollar módulos de cursos de gestión de riesgo de desastres similares. Un curso de pregrado y uno electivo de MBA, llamado Falla Catastrófica en las Organizaciones, contiene cuatro módulos que son directamente relevantes para la gestión del riesgo de desastres. El primer módulo se enfoca en la necesidad de pasar de la indiferencia a la sensibilidad al riesgo. El segundo módulo toma en cuenta la importancia de la continuidad de negocio y los planes de gestión de crisis y explora las deficiencias que tienen en común. El tercer módulo utiliza un estudio de caso para examinar el tema de la gestión prospectiva del riesgo. El cuarto módulo se enfoca en la vulnerabilidad de las cadenas de suministro y otros sistemas complejos del riesgo de desastres. El artículo describe los detalles de la implementación de estos módulos y discute las oportunidades para una integración más profunda de los temas de gestión de riesgo de desastres en otras partes del currícul

A Mathematical Model for Simplifying Representations of Objects in a Geographic Information System

The study of operations on representations of objects is well documented in the realm of spatial engineering. However, the mathematical structure and formal proof of these operational phenomena are not thoroughly explored. Other works have often focused on query-based models that seek to order classes and instances of objects in the form of semantic hierarchies or graphs. In some models, nodes of graphs represent objects and are connected by edges that represent different types of coarsening operators. This work, however, studies how the coarsening operator simplification can manipulate partitions of finite sets, independent from objects and their attributes. Partitions that are simplified first have a collection of elements filtered (removed), and then the remaining partition is amalgamated (some sub-collections are unified). Simplification has many interesting mathematical properties. A finite composition of simplifications can also be accomplished with some single simplification. Also, if one partition is a simplification of the other, the simplified partition is defined to be less than the other partition according to the simp relation. This relation is shown to be a partial-order relation based on simplification. Collections of partitions can not only be proven to have a partial- order structure, but also have a lattice structure and are complete. In regard to a geographic information system (GIs), partitions related to subsets of attribute domains for objects are called views. Objects belong to different views based whether or not their attribute values lie in the underlying view domain. Given a particular view, objects with their attribute n-tuple codings contained in the view are part of the actualization set on views, and objects are labeled according to the particular subset of the view in which their coding lies. Though the scope of the work does not mainly focus on queries related directly to geographic objects, it provides verification for the existence of particular views in a system with this underlying structure. Given a finite attribute domain, one can say with mathematical certainty that different views of objects are partially ordered by simplification, and every collection of views has a greatest lower bound and least upper bound, which provides the validity for exploring queries in this regard

A society of organizations

Ausgangspunkt ist die These, daß die Analyse von Organisationen der Schlüssel zum Verständnis unserer Gesellschaft ist, weil Organisationen vieles der Gesellschaft in sich aufgenommen haben. Am Beispiel von Organisationen in den USA werden drei Phänomene beschrieben, die charakteristisch für eine Gesellschaft von Organisationen sind: 1. Lohnabhängigkeit, die die Bürger für die Organisationen verfügbar macht; 2. die Abwälzung der Sozialkosten der wachsenden Aktivitäten der Organisation auf die Bürger; 3. die Entwicklung und Ausbreitung einer neuen Form der Bürokratie, die Kontrolle unaufdringlich macht. Alle zusammen führen zu einer Gesellschaft von Organisationen, in der wachsende Komplexität und wechselseitige Abhängigkeit ökonomische und soziale Krisen hervorbringen. (GF

The Rationalist Urge in Sociology and Social Movements: Zald as History

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51347/1/583.pd

A Cross-Sectional Examination of Factors Affecting Graduation Rates Across the School Divisions in the State of Virginia.

When citizens look to the government, there are multiple services that are expected to be provided. One of the most fundamental services is the access to an education to better prepare the nation’s children for the future. Education is not just a service that is expected, it is a necessity in the global world that the United States is competing in. Currently the United State of America is facing large numbers of high school students who are dropping out. This is a major concern for the future productivity and welfare of the nation. What is the problem that has caused the questioning of the United States educational system? Education is a major expense to society. Yet, while education is expensive, it is the fundamental building block upon which our society has been built. Consequently, questions about what is going wrong with the educational system are raised, since it appears that the number of students who drop out increases every year. This study looks at a range of possible factors that are believed to have an influence on graduation rates across the one hundred and thirty school divisions in Virginia. Eleven variables were tested based on their theoretical explanation of graduation rates. In following sections past studies, the models used, the results, and policy implications will be examined. Multiple regressions were performed, and after conducting this analysis, five variables were found to have explanatory power in terms of the differences in graduation rates. Thirty five point two percent of the deviation in the graduation rate was explained using those variables. The variables that were found to explain the deviation were: the educational attainment of the community, expenditures per pupil, per capita income, percentage of the school population that is white, and the population density of the school divisions

The politics of theater and the theater of law: the legal and cultural implications in Langston Hughes and John Wexley\u27s dramatizations of the Scottsboro trials

Collectively, the charges and convictions of nine black youths in Scottsboro in 1931 became a symbol of corruption and oppression for those interested in reshaping America\u27s political and legal landscapes. Scottsboro instigated a decade of trials and retrials, two landmark United States Supreme Court opinions, countless dramatic interpretations, and various artistic responses. In particular, Scottsboro, Limited by Langston Hughes and They Shall Not Die by John Wexley were cultural revisions of the trials in 1931 and 1933, respectively. While both works supported the defendants, they were distinguished by their form, production and ultimate statement about the meaning of Scottsboro. These dramatic reproductions help outline a negotiation between pop-culture and legal culture in the early years of the Great Depression. Ironically, as the legal community showed signs of incorporating social concerns within the parameters of legal reasoning, the cultural productions of Scottsboro grew less radical and more in line with mainstream America

Enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health Laws in Virginia: A New Beginning

Preempted in 1972 from enforcing its laws and regulations pertaining to employee safety and health by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA), Virginia resumed enforcement activities on January 1, 1977, implementing, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Act, a unique developmental State Plan. Virginia\u27s resumption of enforcement activity in the area of job safety and health culminated a difficult four-year effort by the legislative and executive branches of Virginia government to gain recognition from the United States Department of Labor that her regulations and the method for enforcing the regulations were at least as effective as the provisions of the Federal Act